the_mysterious_mr_enterfandomcom-20200214-history
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV Series) Review/Transcript
Captain Ryan: 'Well old girl...it's just you and me. '''Leonardo: '''What a hero... ''(Intro) 'Announcer: '''You're watching ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! 'Raphael: '''That was easy. '''Announcer: '''There's more turtles on the way! As a kid, I never got into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I think that's because the original incarnation of it was...before my time. I was born in the early nineties and ''TMNT ''started airing in 1987, and even then, I didn't get cable until around the year 2000. But even by the 2000s series, I was focused on the main three cartoon channels: Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Toon Disney, with some excursion to Discovery Kids. It wasn't exactly on my radar. So, when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did eventually come to a network that I watched, well, I felt a little bit alienated from the series. ''TMNT ''was one of those things that I was never into. Like ''Power Rangers ''or ''Digimon. Just one of these "big, cultural things" that I was well aware of, but I figured it would probably be too late to get into if I wasn't into it already. So I didn't watch the 2012 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''when it first aired. But watching this, I kinda wish that I did, because I could imagine this being a good entry point into the series. The title of the show is ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''like the 1980s show. Normally this is annoying, and, I gotta admit, it still is kind of annoying here. It's always kind of awkward when you have to specify the year of a show, and it can make it more difficult to look up specific information about each version. But it's far more excusable here than say...''Ghostbusters (2016). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''is a full-on reboot. It's a ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''for a new generation, complete with an origin story in the first couple of episodes. And honestly, if I'm any indication, this is a great entry point for the series. The one '''biggest '''thing that I was afraid of during Nick-o-Rama series wasn't things like not being able to find footage for some of the shows or watching episode upon episode of shows that were horrendous. Honestly, the shows that were mediocre were the hardest to come up with something to say about. I wasn't even really afraid of showing an unpopular opinion. No, the thing that I was most afraid of was coming across a series and needing to know about a ''huge ''backstory of source material to really have a clue as to what the whole thing was about. I can safely say that you don't need to have seen the old cartoon or the comics to enjoy this series. On the flip side though, I can't say whether or not ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''would please the ''TMNT ''purists out there. Because, even though I'm not the biggest fan of the franchise obviously, I do know that some things here have been changed from the typical canon. The biggest change in this series is April O'Neil. In previous series, she was either a lab assistant or a news reporter. In this series, she's the teenage daughter of a kidnapped scientist. In the episodes that I've seen, as a character on her own, I do think that she works quite well. But I can see this change being annoying for people who are used to her being...well, an adult? It is a ''rather drastic change. Then again, with how much she got into trouble and kidnapped in previous cartoons, making her a teenager might be a bit more fitting to her character and might make it a little bit more excusable in today's modern day and age. Another thing that kept me from getting into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the past, was that the turtles all kinda looked ''the same. In many versions of the show, the only real difference between the four turtles was the color of their mask. While their personalities ''were always different, if you were colorblind, there would be times where you wouldn't be able to tell Michelangelo from Raphael. I can't say that the 2012 version fixes this completely, but it definitely does the best job that I've seen so far. Raphael has cracks on his shell for instance, and the characters do have slightly different body types and head shapes. They all move differently as well, with their own unique body language and manner of acting, which is definitely helpful in setting them apart. But while we're talking about how this show looks, can we talk about how this show looks? This might be the best-looking CGI cartoon of the '''whole bunch. It's got a really neat style down. It's reminiscent of superhero cartoons of the nineties and early 2000s. It's got the nighttime city vibe of Batman: The Animated Series ''or ''Darkwing Duck. Or the 2000s Teen Titans ''cartoon. Speaking of ''Teen Titans, this show is very ''reminiscent of that show, and that's kinda what got me hooked. It's not ''as deep or as heartwarming, from what I've seen this show doesn't really have a "Nevermore" or "How Long Is Forever?". What it does have though is...just that kind of style. There are lot of the same anime-style, one-off expressions, scan lines in the background. If you told me that these two cartoons were taking place in the same world, I'd definitely believe you. Even if one is CGI and one isn't. Maybe that's just because Michelangelo is voiced by Beast Boy and that's...really noticeable. Yeah...I gotta say...the voice acting though, I'm not too keen on, because like many of the shows I've talked about, all of the voices sound like other characters that I'm familiar with. Even when they don't mean to. The Splinter in this series; the voice sounds '''exactly '''like Samurai Jack. Like, this guy...sounds...'dead-on Samurai Jack. I had to look it up to see that it wasn't Phil LaMarr, and i-it's not...but man, if he isn't around for some reason and you gotta get a Samurai Jack, uh...get Hoon Lee. He-he can do a damn good impression. I'm more and more thinking that this is just a "me problem" though, as much as it bugs me, because it seems that the industry and the audiences don't really care if every single ''voice actor uses the same voice in every single role playing the exact same character in every single show. I'm guessing that nobody but me really cares if voice acting becomes synonymous with character acting. Then again, very few people see the sheer amount of cartoons that I do. And that being said, the same voice in different roles isn't...'''always a bad thing. Off the top of my head, Kevin Michael Richardson plays Shredder in the series, and-and that's just a...yes. This is a role he should be in, using that exact same voice. Kevin Michael Richardson has the perfect voice for pretty much any villain that you want to make really ''intimidating, to the point where it's actually really distracting when he's not playing a villain. Like in ''Avatar. Like seriously, if a show portrays Kevin Michael Richardson's character as a good guy, I can't help but assume that he's got some sort of secret plan to stab the main characters in the back, poison some iron, and covertly start a war with the Amish. Let's talk about the action. I think it really works. The action seems very reminiscent of Teen Titans ''once again, it's almost like a throwback. Which is what it should be. But then again, that could be a bit of a double-edged sword. Oh, the villains are using laser beams instead of guns. What is this, an eighties cartoon? I'm sorry, but the censorship of firearms in like, video games and cartoons and stuff, 'drives me up a wall 'because it's getting to be more and more of a problem and-and it doesn't stop the problem of actual real-world shooting. "If there were no guns in a show, then there'll be no kids with guns in the real world!" I-I mean it should work. We got all the cigarettes out of child-focused media, and no one under 18 has ever lit up a menthol since! Oh wait...they're all vaping now. I suppose we should ban all the vaping in cartoons and video games and maybe they'll stop doing that too. I get the logic, you don't wanna make shootouts and bad guys and guns seem cool. But when you replace them with laser beams or, abstractions like this show does, i-it kinda breaks the tone and it goes against the vibe of the show. I mean from what it appears, the show seems to take place in some simulacra of the present day. Also, guns give more tension than laser beams. Laser beams are a childish fantasy, you can't take them seriously. Guns are '''real', and the conflict they present is obvious. Other than that, this show was a pleasant surprise, and I think that it's a perfect gateway into the series as a whole. And considering the time that this show came out, when Nickelodeon wasn't doing so hot, that's a nice surprise. I guess Nickelodeon was better at handling other people's franchises than works on their own, Monsters vs. Aliens not withstanding. Which is next. Let's just get this one over with... 'Announcer: '''Saturday, April 6th...the brand new show ''Monsters vs. Aliens ''is coming to Ni- '''B.O.B.: '''And B.O.B.! Whoo! Yeah! Everybody rumba! '''Announcer: '''It's got- '''B.O.B.: '''AND B.O.B.!!!!! '''Announcer: '''Don't miss ''Monsters vs. Aliens! And B.O.B.... 'B.O.B: '''Could this day get any awesomer? '''Announcer: '''The brand new series, only on Nick! '''B.O.B.: B.O.B.!!!!! '*laughs* (End Credits Theme: Title Theme from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES game) Category:Nick-o-Rama Category:Transcripts